The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 1. The way too early edition.

April 10, 2025

Freedom Caucus leader John Bear went on record at a meeting of legislators on how to handle the upcoming populist initiative to reduce property taxes by 50%, after they've just been reduced by 25%, as favoring completely eliminating property taxes in favor of sales taxes.

On the imported geezer reduce my property taxes on the house I bought after I moved here from California initiative, he feels that the effect wouldn't be cumulative (50% of the just reduced 25%), while other legislators do.

May 2, 2025

A press interview of Freedeom Caucus member Bear reveals the WFC wants to treat the Wyoming budget to some DOGEy style actions, particularly in regard to grants and loans.

May 4, 2025

Wyoming Republicans Elect Sheridan's Bryan Miller As New Party Chairman

I don't know anything about the woman from Teton County who was his competition, but Miller was another individual who spent a career in the military, and therefore was a lifelong recipient of public funds, and who has now returned as an opponent of the Federal government.

May 7, 2025

Wyoming Legislature finalizes list of ‘off-season’ topics for study

May 9, 2025

Chuck Gray Supports 22 New Election-Reform Bills, Committee To Study 10

Some of these bills are frankly nuts.

May 19, 2025

Wyoming lawmakers go after funding for state associations that sometimes oppose their bills: Green River Rep. Marlene Brady is leading the charge on prohibiting cities, towns and counties from paying dues to elected officials’ associations.

May 21, 2025

Legislative panel pursues bills to regulate Wyoming library books with sexual material: Lawmakers are taking up library books as conservative activists around the state pore over material in young adult and teen library sections for sexual content.

For reasons I won't go into, I've seen some of the book that is featured in this article, and there's no way it should be in the children's section of a library.

May 22, 2025

Committee Adopts Bill To Make Wyoming Senate Confirm Supreme Court Justices

This is inaccurate. Rather they voted to have the LSO draft such a bill.

May 23, 2025

As scrutiny of judges grows, lawmakers weigh changes to Wyoming’s selection process: In her final official appearance before lawmakers, Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Kate Fox defended the process for choosing the state’s judges. But some lawmakers still want changes.

May 25, 2025

A draft bill would allow for nuclear facilities to have armed guards as a type of private police force.

Private police forces are rare, but not completely unknown. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association at one time was authorized to have them, although that's long ago in the past.  While I haven't kept up on it, so I don't know the current status, railroads at one time had them as well.

Related threads:

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the 2025 and 2026 Legislatures. Some things to keep in mind.

Say no to those who would undermine Wyoming’s independent judiciary

Say no to those who would undermine Wyoming’s independent judiciary: The current judicial selection process doesn't need reform. It works well precisely because it's merit-based, attorney Khale Lenhart writes.

Court Watch

Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man. 

Henry Adams.

A glimpse into what's going on in the law, and the Court's.

April 21, 2025

1.  The U.S. Supreme Court had issued a temporary stay on deportations of Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Enemy Aliens Act, as it well should have.  There isn't a war going on.

The pause is so that it can take the question in chief.

On the same basic topic, a Federal judge has issued a finding of probable cause of criminal contempt for the administration's refusal to adhere to his order regarding such deportations.

2.  Wyoming Tribe's Law Firm One Of The Few Fighting Trump's Big-Law Orders

Trump's ongoing assault on the law includes assaulting law firms that have displeased him. Quite a few have caved in, but this one didn't.

3.  A federal judge ordered that Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk be transferred from a detention center in Louisiana to Vermont no later than at the start of next month.

4.  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Trump administration's plans to end birthright citizenship next month.  Trump, in one of his many stupid statement moments, said that this should be an easy win as birthright citizenship was tied to slavery, which is really ignorant.

5.  Wyoming Supreme Court mulls constitutionality of state’s abortion bans: Much like the case, Wednesday’s hearing largely focused on whether a section of the state’s constitution that protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions prevents the state from banning abortion.

A frustrating thing for conservatives who would like to find a more middle of the road set of people to vote for, now that the Wyoming Republican Party is in a civil war between real conservatives and populists, is that the Democratic Party nationally and locally just can't wash it hands of blood.  

It puts voters in a horrible position.  Insane gerontocracy v. seas of blood.

Former Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Keith Kautz created some controversy when he joined some legislators in a prayer session associated with the oral arguments, stating as a prayer:

I especially pray for the justices on the Wyoming Supreme Court.  May they know that the true beginning of wisdom is to acknowledge you. Give each of them wisdom and courage in deciding the case coming next week. Let them see how much you love each human and the world you created.

I don't see a problem with that, but apparently some people did.  Justice Kautz noted that he asked, upon retiring, not to be assigned to any cases dealing with abortion because of his religion based opposition to it.  He apparently is a member of a Baptist group called "Converge". 

6.  A group of Wyoming lawyers wrote an open letter about recent legal developments.  It was directed at Wyoming's Congressional representation.

Condemn attacks on judiciary, Wyoming lawyers and judges urge delegation

The letter was met with a "pound sand" response from that representation which went on to say that Federal courts had too much jurisdiction, which they are seeking to limit.

That's wrong, and that's a mistake.

William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts

April 24, 2025

Trump has issued an order which takes on accrediting bodies, including the ABA.

REFORMING ACCREDITATION TO STRENGTHEN HIGHER EDUCATION

Executive Orders

April 23, 2025

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  A group of higher education accreditors are the gatekeepers that decide which colleges and universities American students can spend the more than $100 billion in Federal student loans and Pell Grants dispersed each year.  The accreditors’ job is to determine which institutions provide a quality education — and therefore merit accreditation.  Unfortunately, accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority.

Accreditors routinely approve institutions that are low-quality by the most important measures.  The national six-year undergraduate graduation rate was an alarming 64 percent in 2020.  Further, many accredited institutions offer undergraduate and graduate programs with a negative return on investment — almost 25 percent of bachelor’s degrees and more than 40 percent of master’s degrees — which may leave students financially worse off and in enormous debt by charging them exorbitant sums for a degree with very modest earnings potential.

Notwithstanding this slide in graduation rates and graduates’ performance in the labor market, the spike in debt obligations in relation to expected earnings, and repayment rates on student loans, accreditors have remained improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology, rather than on student outcomes.  Some accreditors make the adoption of unlawfully discriminatory practices a formal standard of accreditation, and therefore a condition of accessing Federal aid, through “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI”-based standards of accreditation that require institutions to “share results on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the context of their mission by considering . . . demographics . . . and resource allocation.” Accreditors have also abused their governance standards to intrude on State and local authority.

The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (Council), which is the sole federally recognized accreditor for Juris Doctor programs, has required law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” including by “commit[ting] to having a student body [and faculty] that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”  As the Attorney General has concluded and informed the Council, the discriminatory requirement blatantly violates the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).  Though the Council subsequently suspended its enforcement while it considers proposed revisions, this standard and similar unlawful mandates must be permanently eradicated.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which is the only federally recognized body that accredits Doctor of Medicine degree programs, requires that an institution “engage[] in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students.”  The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which is the sole accreditor for both allopathic and osteopathic medical residency and fellowship programs, similarly “expect[s]” institutions to focus on implementing “policies and procedures related to recruitment and retention of individuals underrepresented in medicine,” including “racial and ethnic minority individuals.”  The standards for training tomorrow’s doctors should focus solely on providing the highest quality care, and certainly not on requiring unlawful discrimination.

American students and taxpayers deserve better, and my Administration will reform our dysfunctional accreditation system so that colleges and universities focus on delivering high-quality academic programs at a reasonable price.  Federal recognition will not be provided to accreditors engaging in unlawful discrimination in violation of Federal law.

Sec. 2.  Holding Accreditors Accountable for Unlawful Actions.  (a)  The Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, hold accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.

(b)  The Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American law schools that is advanced by the Council, including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements under the guise of accreditation standards.  The Secretary of Education shall also assess whether to suspend or terminate the Council’s status as an accrediting agency under Federal law.

(c)  The Attorney General and the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American medical schools or graduate medical education entities that is advanced by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or other accreditors of graduate medical education, including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements under the guise of accreditation standards.  The Secretary of Education shall also assess whether to suspend or terminate the Committee’s or the Accreditation Council’s status as an accrediting agency under Federal law or take other appropriate action to ensure lawful conduct by medical schools, graduate medical education programs, and other entities that receive Federal funding for medical education.

Sec. 3.  New Principles of Student-Oriented Accreditation.  (a)  To realign accreditation with high-quality, valuable education for students, the Secretary of Education shall, consistent with applicable law, take appropriate steps to ensure that:

(i)    accreditation requires higher education institutions to provide high-quality, high-value academic programs free from unlawful discrimination or other violations of Federal law;

(ii)   barriers are reduced that limit institutions from adopting practices that advance credential and degree completion and spur new models of education;

(iii)  accreditation requires that institutions support and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning;

(iv)   accreditors are not using their role under Federal law to encourage or force institution to violate State laws, unless such State laws violate the Constitution or Federal law; and

(v)    accreditors are prohibited from engaging in practices that result in credential inflation that burdens students with additional unnecessary costs.

(b)  To advance the policies and objectives in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Education shall:

(i)    resume recognizing new accreditors to increase competition and accountability in promoting high-quality, high-value academic programs focused on student outcomes;

(ii)   mandate that accreditors require member institutions to use data on program-level student outcomes to improve such outcomes, without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex;

(iii)  promptly provide to accreditors any noncompliance findings relating to member institutions issued after an investigation conducted by the Office of Civil Rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) or Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.);

(iv)   launch an experimental site, pursuant to section 487A(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094a(b)), to accelerate innovation and improve accountability by establishing new flexible and streamlined quality assurance pathways for higher education institutions that provide high-quality, high-value academic programs;

(v)    increase the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of the accreditor recognition review process, including through the use of technology;

(vi)   streamline the process for higher education institutions to change accreditors to ensure institutions are not forced to comply with standards that are antithetical to institutional values and mission; and

(vii)  update the Accreditation Handbook to ensure that the accreditor recognition and reauthorization process is transparent, efficient, and not unduly burdensome.

Sec. 4.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

                              DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 26, 2025

The Trump administration really took a step towards Nazism with the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for supposedly interfering with immigration laws.

Wyoming’s crossover voting ban and closed primary elections are being challenged in a newly filed civil action.

This should be really interesting.

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, has died by suicide at age 41.  Prince Andrew's fall is directly tied to her, and there's no doubt that they met when she was just 17 years old, although he denied any improper conduct with her.

She was a married woman with three children, and had relocated to Australia. Apparently she and her husband had recently separated, and she had recently been in an automobile accident.

The topic of releasing the Epstein files has come up, but so far the Trump administration has failed to release them.  Trump, of course, knew Epstein.

April 29, 2025

Hageman, Barrasso Say Judges Who Shield Illegal Immigrants Should Be Arrested

President Donald Trump’s administration did not go too far in arresting judges for allegedly shielding illegal immigrants from federal agents, say members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation.

April 30, 2025

Judge: Rock Springs school didn’t violate parental rights in transgender pronoun case: School district officials, educators did not keep information from high schooler’s parents or violate mother’s religious rights, federal judge concludes.

May 2, 2025

A federal judge in Texas barred the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelans from South Texas under the Enemy Aliens Act.

May 3, 2025

I missed it, as I was busy, but Law Day, which is May 1, was rebranded by Trump as Loyalty Day.

The meanings aren't even remotely close.

A Federal Court blocked the Trump administration sanctions on a U.S. law firm.

May 16, 2025

A retired lawyer has sued Secretary of State Chuck Gray maintaining that as Gray spread lies about the January 6 insurrection, he supported the campaign of insurrectionist Donald Trump and therefore is disqualified from office under the 14th for being an insurrectionist himself.

That suit will go nowhere, it's really strained.

Trump is an insurrectionist and isn't qualified to hold office, and Gray did support him, but there was never an adjudication in Wyoming as to Trump's status and therefore Gray would have been entitled to argue in favor of him, even with wild fantasies that the election was stolen.

Moreover, the 14th Amendment in the end disallows an insurrectionist from being seated in office, which is why I take the position that Trump is not currently the President, but it also allows for the disqualification to be lifted by Congress.  I think, therefore, that it would have been valid to argue that Trump should be elected, as Congress could have lifted the disability.  It simply never came up.

Lawsuits like this amount to pointless tilting at windmills and frankly discredit those who oppose Trump by being goofy.  Gray has resorted to his usual speech decrying the "radical left". That speech has grown tiresome and I frankly doubt anyone listens to it anymore, but it is giving him something to complain about that fits in with his campaign's past themse, and it likely future one.

On other news, the Federal Court is allowing UW sorority sisters to amend their complaint against the man who has been admitted as a sister in their sorority.

A lot of people have heard that the Supreme Court heard arguments on birthright citizenship this week, but it didn't.  It heard a case on nationwide injunctions which involved birthright citizenship.  The court can, and probably will, issue its opinion without addressing the question of citizenship.

May 17, 2025

The US Supreme Court extended an injunction prohibiting the deportation of Venezuelans under the Enemy Alien Act, with their being two dissents.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 84th Edition. The uncomfortably agreeing with the far right edition (on some things). Hegseth orders transgenderism out and a bill to outlaw pornography.

"Transgendered" troops to depart.

I'll be frank, I don't think transgenderism exists at all.

Gender dysphoria, however, certainly does.  It's a psychological condition, and indeed, a mental illness, often a temporary one.

Moreover, "transitioning from a man to a woman", or vice versa, is impossible.

Whether or not that fiction should be allowed to medically occur for adults (for anyone not in their majority, it's child abuse), is another thing.  I basically don't feel that it should be allowed, as its a manifestation of a mental illness that isn't served by being medically and surgically coddled, but I'll also fully admit there's more than one allowable medical procedure I don't think should be legal either.  Plastic surgery, for example, for mere cosmetic reason for uninjured and the morphologically normal people is also wrong, in my view, and that's not the only such thing.

Nonetheless, the sudden, and it was sudden, post Obergefell societal trend towards treating this mental delusion as something that should be fully supported is not only stunning, but it's flat out wrong.  It may be the only mental illness which has rising to be not only culturally tolerated, but for which the left makes cultural demands.  As I predicated at the time of the Obergefell, making such demands would have a societal ripple that would be devastating, and it has been. There's a straight path from Obergefell to  Donald Trump, as what it brought in was just a bridge too far.

So, here, I find  myself agreeing with Secretary Hegseth's action, even though I'm not a fan of Secretary Hegseth.

As readers here know, I don't agree with letting women serve in combat, so I'm clearly on the far edge of the right on these matters.  But I don't feel that appropriate.  Be that as it may, while women's cycles propose challenges to their serving as combat troops, they don't require medication just to exist in their state.  The "transgendered" do.  So, setting aside that what transgenderism really is, is a mental illness, it'd rapidly become a physical illness to a soldier trapped in an isolated combat environment or a prisoner or war.  As stated here some time ago, I fear for women who will be POWs, as I know exactly what they're going to be subject to. For a soldier who was "transgendered", the treatment as a POW would be barbaric.

By the way, there's a transitioned high school softball picture who has been blowing the doors off of her opponents with her pitches.  Well, she's genetically a guy.

This is just wrong, and shouldn't be allowed to happen.

I'll also note that I may be one of the view Wyomingites in my region to have encountered a guy pretending to be a gal and seeking medical assistance for the delusion, with that person in uniform.  Some time back I had some email correspondence with a full time National Guardsman on something, although I don't recall what.  What I do recall is that he was "transgendered".  Like a lot, but not all, "transgendered" men affecting the appearance of a woman, he looked very much like a guy, which of course what he genetically and morphologically is.

Gender studies also out.

In something that is sort of related, and sort of not, UW is eliminating its Gender Studies degree.

UW looks to end embattled gender studies degree

I don't know much about gender studies other than its one of those host of degrees that came in during the 1970s and 1980s in the liberal arts that have always baffled me a bit.  What do you do with it?

Having said that, I'm not as condescending towards the degree as I once was.  I do, however, think that what US is doing makes sense.  Folding the program into some other sort of sociology degree strikes me as making sense, rather than having it stand alone.

Sorority transgender pleading allowed.

In something else sort of related, and sort of not, the Federal Court has allowed for an amended complaint to be filed in a suit in which it seeks to address a man identifying as a woman being admitted to its house at UW as a sorority "sister".

Banning pornography.

And here's another item that come from the far right, and indeed from Project 2025, which generally scares me overall, but whose goal I find myself in agreement with:

I've posted on the topic of pornography here from time to time.

Pornography is a devastating scourge. It's wholly destructive, and about that there's no doubt

This bill will be interesting to watch.  I suspect it will get no traction  I don't know, for one thing, that Donald Trump cares one whit about pornography.  After all, his wife became famous as a model for posing in a manner that I'd regard as pornographic.  And a guy who rode the Lolita Express to Epstein's jail bait fantasy island doesn't strike me as a man of deep moral principles.  And hte pron industry is powerful and will take this on in the guise of free speech.

It may ironically prove to be the case that deporting people to foreign concentration camps is something most Americans are willing to tolerate, but stopping young women from prostituting their images is not.

Related posts:

Topic One.

Normalizing Mental Illness isn't helping to address it.

What's wrong with the (modern, western) world, part 2. Care, lack of care, and an existential lack of focus.

How to loose friends, make enemies, make a bad argument, and discredit everything you stand for. The Transgender issue and a minister in Laramie.

The Overly Long Thread. Gender Trends of the Past Century, Definitions, Society, Law, Culture and Their Odd Trends and Impacts.

Topic Four

The life of Fran Gerard/Francis Anna Camuglia. Was Francis Anna Camuglia and Cynthia Blanton.

Francis Anna Camuglia and Cynthia Blanton.

Blog Mirror and Commentary: QC: Human Sexuality | January 17, 2024 and the destruction of reality.

Blog Mirror. A sane decision

Thursday, June 21, 1973. Lacking in serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Secrets of Playboy

Lex Anteinternet: De mortuis nihil nisi bonum. M'eh. Throwing rocks at Hugh Hefner . . . I'm not alone in that.

Lex Anteinternet: De mortuis nihil nisi bonum. M'eh. Ross Douthart of the New York Times says what I did, more bluntly.

De mortuis nihil nisi bonum. M'eh

Prostituting their image

Depictions, Mispreceptions, Objectification, Shame, Shamelessness, Progress and Regression.

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 83d Edition. The law and refusal to depart, departing in the worst way, echoes of service.

Labels: 2020s, Baby Boom Generation, Generation Jones, Growing up in the 1970s, law, mehr Mensch sein, Military, Old Age, The Practice of Law, The Second Trump Administration, Vietnam War, Zeitgeist

Courthouses of the West: For more than two centuries, it has been establish...

Courthouses of the West: For more than two centuries, it has been establish...: 

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. . . The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. . . The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

Chief Justice John Roberts reacting to putative chief executive Donald Trump demanding impeachment of a judge who disagreed with him, as they often due due to his contempt of the law.

Going Feral: The good guys win one. Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape,...

Going Feral: The good guys win one. Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape,...:  

The good guys win one. Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape, Smith, Yeomans, and Slowensky.

 

Sunday, March 5, 1775. The Boston Massacre.

In Boston, a young wigmaker's apprentice began a pestering British sentry about an allegedly unpaid barber bill, although the bill was paid in fact and the officer produced a receipt. Applying a universal rule about harassing people with guns being a bad idea, sort of like at Kent State many years later, a British soldier tired of the event and butted the kid was his musket.

A crowed soon gathered, somebody yelled "Fire", perhaps because Church Bells were ringing which was a fire alarm, and the troops fired their muskets, killing five.  This is also reminiscent of Kent State.

The troops went on to be defended in a trial by John Adams.

Last edition: 

Friday, March 3, 1775. A British ship.

Labels: 1770s, 1775, Colonial North America, Lent, press, Royal Navy, Virginia

Blog Mirror: Judge Tells Wyoming Legislators To Buy More Computers And Fund Schools Better

Education in Wyoming is a fundamental right, the highest form of protected right there is. The Court has addressed education funding before, and struck down a prior funding model.

Now, the 1st Judicial District is really giving the legislature the dope slap.

Judge Tells Wyoming Legislators To Buy More Computers And Fund Schools Better

States Sue Musk and DOGE

 

States Sue Musk and DOGE 

Friday, February 13, 1925. The Sheikh Said Rebellion

The Sheikh Said Rebellion by Kurdish nationalists broke out after a sermon by Sheikh Said at Dicle, urging Kurdish independence.

The Judiciary Act of 1925 was passed, seeking to reduce the workload of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last edition:

Thursday, February 12, 1925. Arbitration and Execution.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Africa, Aircraft, Belgium, Calvin Coolidge, Congo, German Weimar Republic, law, Russian Revolution, Transportation, USSR

What if Trump Just Ignores the Courts?

2024 Election Post Mortem, Part 2. What's going on?

Well of course, it's hard to tell.

November 11, 2024

And indeed, there are already those, who pollyannish like insist that maybe this time Trump will be different, and not carry through with all his claims, promises, and threats.

I listed to all three weekend shows this week, and they're well worth listening to.  For the most part, with one exception, Democrats have realized that latching on to far left social issues sank them. Even Bernie Sanders seemed to agree.  The exception really seemed clueless.

A scary former Trump ambassador to Japan seemed, now in Congress for Tennessee, seems intent on cutting off all aid to Ukraine.

Susie Wiles will be Trump's chief of staff.

On that, there are already noting how that's "historic" as she's the first woman to be appointed to that role.  No it isn't.  Frankly, once Barrack Obama was elected President most of the claimed "firsts" are really meaningless.

Trump has apparently instructed Republicans in Congress to hold up Biden judicial nominees.

cont:

And now we know the "Border Czar" will be Tom Homan, who in a recent interview with 60 Minutes, supported deporting kids who were born and raised in the US to undocumented immigrants, stating: “Families can be deported together.”

Homan had stated at a Nation Conservatism conference: "Trump comes back in January, I'll be on his heels coming back, and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. They ain't seen shit yet. Wait until 2025."

How charming.

cont:

Elise Stefanik has been chosen to be Ambassador to the United Nations.

November 12, 2024

Former Green Beret, Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a China hawk, will be National Security Advisor.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem will head the Department of Homeland Security

Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York will run the Environmental Protection Agency.  He's expected to go after environmental regulations, and be hostile to climate policy.

Somebody, or some group, is clearly advising Trump on these picks.  But who is it?  

Marco Rubio will be Secretary of State, a position that he undoubtedly will be unable to retain throughout a second Trump administration.

Russian television, which is presumed not to run items without Putin's permission, ran nude photos of Melania Trump.  This is interesting in that Trump has a weird relationship with Putin, and you have to wonder what the message was supposed to be.

Cont:

Tom Homan:

The illegal animals coming across the border... 31% of women that make their journey get raped by criminal cartels.

Children get raped. I've talked to little girls as young as nine that have been raped multiple times.

These cartels are animals. And that's why President Trump's gonna take 'em off the face of Earth.

[Trump] will use them full might of the United States Special Operations to take 'em out.

 Trump in fact asked about doing something of this nature in his prior term.

Cont:

John Ratcliffe will serve as CIA director.

November 13, 2024

Fox news commentator Pete Hegseth, a National Guard officer, has been chosen by Trump as Secretary of Defense.

Seems like a poor choice.  Maybe even a bit of a scary one.

Former Arkansas Governor and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, a very strong supporter of Israel, perhaps even one that might be regarded as extreme on the point, has been chosen as Ambassador to the country.

This will not be good for peace in the Middle East.  Arab Americans who abstained from voting will no reap the fruits of that action, and they'll be bitter fruits.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been appointed to something that will be called the Department of Efficiency.  I don't see this lasting.

These picks look a lot like what a lot of people expected, and feared.

Cont:

John Thune (R-S.D.) will be the next Senate Majority Leader.

Cont:  

Secretary of Defense putative nominee has apparently stated "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles." Frankly, that's my view as well, and that view is widely shared within the military itself.  This is interesting, however, as this would normally probably be a disqualifying viewpoint.  We'll see if it had any impact on his chances of being confirmed.

We'll also see, of course, if he acts on his view.  A large number of the views Trump expressed in his 2016 campaign of this type never saw the light of day in his administration.

I actually have a long and very old draft of a post on women in combat I've never completed.  I ought to, but now I'm reluctant given that I don't want to be seen leaping on board the incoming administration's bandwagon.

Cont:

Trump has nominated Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General of the United States.

My prediction is that even the Republican Senate won't be able to stomach that.

What a joke.

November 14, 2024

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Security.

John Barrasso, Senate Whip.

Gaetz, who was the topic of an upcoming ethics investigation, has resigned from Congress.  

Cont:

When he (Gaetz) was accused of sleeping with an underage girl, there’s a reason why no one in the conference defended him. We all saw videos he was showing us on the House floor of girls he slept with & brag how he would crush ED medicine so he could go all night.

Sen. Mullin, R. Oklahoma.

Cont:

Republican Senator John Cornyn is going to ask the House Ethics Committee to release the findings of the Matt Gaetz investigation.

Cont:

And now RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services.

With this appointment and Gaetz, Heath May put it best.  "Another day, another dumb ass"

November 15, 2024

Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior.

This is again an interesting choice.  Only 3.9% of North Dakota is Federal land.  However, users of Federal land in the West might take some cautious optimism out of this as Western politicians, completely contrary to the views of those they serve, have taken on the land grabbing mindset illustrated  by Utah's effort to grab Federal lands in court, which has been sadly supported by Wyoming.

Cont:

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson regarding the House ethics investigation report for Gaetz:

I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report.

Cont:

Governor Gordon Commends Selection of Governor Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior 

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has issued a statement following the announcement from President Trump that North Dakota governor Doug Burgum will lead the Department of Interior.

“I congratulate my friend Doug Burgum and I commend President Trump for his selection of Governor Burgum as Secretary of the Interior. Since almost half of Wyoming’s surface land and 67% of its mineral resources are managed by the federal government, the Secretary of the Interior is integral to Wyoming’s economic well-being and future. It is good that we have a friend in that office.

Doug has a deep understanding of the importance of energy development while maintaining valuable wildlife and outdoor recreation opportunities. He and I have worked together on these issues for the past six years. We see eye-to-eye on the importance of a domestically focused, all-of-the-above energy policy for public lands and minerals. I know personally his love of the outdoors. I am confident that under his leadership, future decisions regarding land management and wildlife issues in Wyoming will not utilize a top-down, DC-driven approach, but rather be made cooperatively, with local interests at the forefront. I look forward to working with him.”

-END-

---

November 16, 2024

Karoline Leavitt, age 27, as press secretary.

Cont: 

Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, secretary of the Department of Energy.

November 18, 2024

Mitch McConnell has stated there will be no recess appointments.

November 19, 2024

Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce.

Cont:

Mehmet Oz to serve as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Truly, this is the most pathetic set of appointments, ever.

November 23, 2024

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for Surgeon General.

Pam Bondi to replace Gaetz, who withdrew.

Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary.

Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for Secretary of Labor.

Scott Turner, for the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

November 24, 2024

Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture.  She's a Texas A&M trained lawyer with an undergraduate in agricultural development.

Dr. Marty Makary, Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

Rep. Dave Weldon, a Republican from Florida, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Russell Vought, a co-author of Project 2025, to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

December 2, 2024

Joe Biden pardoned Hunter Biden.

cont:

Trump proposes to replace the currently serving head of the FBI, whom he appointed in the first place with Kash Patel.

This is absurd.

December 9, 2024

Trump was interviewed on Meet The Press (I guess a longer transcript of the interview is elsewhere on NBC).

While presented with a very flat aspect, Trump interestingly basically stuck with his promises, putting in some plausible deniability between himself and carrying them out.  In other words, if his political enemies are prosecuted, that's the decision of other people, he'd have it, not him.  He also left room for failure if things don't go as he promised.

He didn't back down from mass deportations, and in fact double downed on them, save for the "Dreamers", for whom he expressed a desire to find a solution.  It's pretty clear that support for Ukraine is going to be decreased.

December 10, 2024

Sen. Lummis will be on the "DOGE Caucus".

December 11, 2024

Sigh . . . 

Kimberly Guilfoyle Is Appointed Ambassador to Greece.

cont:

FBI Director Christopher Wray is going to resign at the end of the current administration.

Kerri Lake as head of Voice of America.

December 13, 2024

Mitch McConnell about indications that there may be Trump Admin vaccine dipshittery, on the polio vaccine:

Like millions of families before them, my parents knew the pain and fear of watching their child struggle with the life-altering diagnosis of polio. From the age of two, normal life without paralysis was only possible for me because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love. But for millions who came after me, the real miracle was the saving power of the polio vaccine…

The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.

Frankly, messing with childhood police vaccines is criminal at an epic level. 

December 21, 2024

Congressman Hageman will chair the Article One Task Force which has as its mission going after regulatory agencies in favor of Congress, based on the conservative concept that regulatory agencies have usurped Congress.

December 24, 2024

Wyoming Senator Lummis is joining the newly formed U.S. Senate caucus led by Kansas Republican Dr. Roger Marshall that will work to promote legislation in line with the agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is widely regarded as a gadfly.

Last edition:

2024 Election Post Mortem, Part I. What the heck happened?